Politics

Obama announces two more manufacturing hubs

President Obama on Tuesday designated Chicago and Canton,
Mich., as new high-tech manufacturing hubs that bring together the resources of
government, business and universities to maximize innovation the field.

The two new innovation institutes will be led by the
Department of Defense and backed with a $140 million federal commitment, plus
the same amount of non-federal resources. The hub in Canton, which is outside
of Detroit, will focus on lightweight and modern metals manufacturing and the
Chicago-area hub, on Goose Island, will focus on digital manufacturing and
design technologies.

“We’ve got to make sure we are on the cutting edge of new
manufacturing techniques and technologies,” Mr. Obama said. “I don’t want the
next big job creating discovery to come from Germany or China or Japan, I want
it to be here in America.”

He joked that the initiatives would help create “the next
Stark Industries,” and that he was announcing the creation of the next Iron
Man, a reference to the popular comic book-based film series.

His goal is to create 45 manufacturing hubs, but that could
take congressional action. The U.S. now has four hubs (the first one is in
Youngstown, Ohio, and it focuses on 3-D printing), but Mr. Obama says that’s
not enough.

“Germany has 60 of them. Part of the reason Germany has been
able to take the lead in certain manufacturing areas is because they invest in
these hubs,” Mr. Obama said. “We’ve got to do better.”